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| The pope called on for anyone who has committed child abuse to hand themselves over to justice |
Pope Francis vowed Friday that the Catholic Church will never again treat abuse allegations without "seriousness and promptness", calling on abusers to hand themselves in to police.
"The
Church will never seek to hush up or not take seriously any case," the
pope said in his annual address to the Church's governing Curia at the Vatican.
"Let
it be clear that before these abominations the Church will spare no effort to
do all that is necessary to bring to justice whosoever has committed such
crimes".
A litany of
child sexual abuse scandals has rocked the Roman Catholic Church, which has 1.3
billion followers around the world, with the pope as recently as Wednesday
accepting the resignation of a US auxiliary bishop over his
"misconduct" with a minor.
"It is
undeniable that some in the past, out of irresponsibility, disbelief, lack of
training, inexperience, or spiritual and human short-sightedness, treated many
cases without the seriousness and promptness that was due.
"That
must never happen again. This is the choice and the decision of the whole
Church."
The pope on
Friday also called on for anyone who has committed child abuse, including
priests, to hand themselves over to justice.
'Prepare
for justice'
"To
those who abuse minors I would say this: convert and hand yourself over to
human justice, and prepare for divine justice," the pope told Curia.
Francis has
struggled to resolve the problem as the steady drip of scandal corrodes the
church's authority but fresh cases surface regularly against a background of
sharp divisions in Rome over the issue.
The pope
last week removed two prominent cardinals from his inner circle months after
they were tainted by paedophile scandals and ahead of a Church-wide meeting on
the "protection of minors" next year.
Australian
Cardinal George Pell and Chilean Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz were both
removed from the so-called C9 Council of Cardinals, an international advice
body set up by Francis himself, the Vatican said on December 12.
The last
time the C9 met in September, Errazuriz, who is accused of ignoring reports of
abuse in Chile, and Pell, who faces charges in Australia related to historical
child sexual offences, were both absent, and the council said it was
considering restructuring.
Despite
being removed from the C9, Pell, 77, remains in charge of Vatican finances, the
third most powerful position in the Roman Catholic Church.
The Church
has been hit by a series of child abuse scandals in recent years, with
widespread allegations of cover-ups, including against the pope himself.
The pope
told the Curia on Friday that there were still "consecrated men... who
abuse the vulnerable, taking advantage of their position and their power of
persuasion."
"They
perform abominable acts yet continue to exercise their ministry as if nothing
had happened. They have no fear of God or his judgement, but only of being
found out and unmasked."
"Often
behind their boundless amiability, impeccable activity and angelic faces, they
shamelessly conceal a vicious wolf ready to devour innocent souls."
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